neighbor goodness!

We feel incredibly blessed to have our neighbors. They spoil us with gifts but most importantly we are spoiled to have neighbors we can call friends! Mrs. Sandy is always making gourmet treats and jams for our family! This Christmas, she made homemade hot cocoa and homemade marshmallows which were fully~coated with sprinkles. They always come home from their Mexican vacations with treats and t-shirts for our crew too! So sweet!

Our neighbors across the street have named themselves as the adopted "grandparents" to our kids. Mrs. Carmel has yet to miss one of their birthdays. Every birthday, we hear the doorbell ring and we know it must be… Mrs. Carmel! Her gifts are always WAY cool and educational. She did not disappoint this Christmas either when she delivered a ginormous marble tower! How cool!

Cousin bowling and FoNdUe!

When all the Kroon cousins are in town we love to get together just as adults. Most of us LOVE to play games but we have learned over the years that we can't play games together! Ha! Too many competitive cousins! Kep and I decided a safe alternative would be to go bowling with grammy's glasses. We would all be too busy laughing to care about the score! And, boy did we laugh. Another fun twist is to come up with bowling names! Thanks to Brittney, we now have a new bowling phrase… "Betty Ball" instead of gutter ball.

meet "Betty"!

We ended the successful cousin game night at our place with FONDUE. Mmm mmmm! This cousin game night will be the new tradition!

it's a Kroon Christmas miracle...

IT SNOWED! Christmas morning was sweet but it got extra sweet when HUGE fluffy flakes started falling. We all couldn't believe it was happening. After all gifts were opened we went out and played in the fresh 4 inches of goodness!

The fresh snow didn't make the lake any less slippery so Uncle Tills came up with a new game… a luge run!

Christmas at Momo and Popeyes

Christmas just continued to be a sweet time with family when we went over to spend the rest of the day with GGG, the uncles and Momo/Popeye! These guys sure know how to spoil our crew~ hence the huge smiles! Noah was so excited that he had tears in his eyes which for sure made Momo and I tear up! This cute li'l guy has been wanting a drum set but I have been dragging my feet because of the noise level. I gave in this year and GGG surprised our drummer boy. Now, I will just have to keep reminding myself of the sweet moment he opened his drum set whenever I get tired of the noise. It's all worth it for my li'l guy's dreams to come true, right!?! And, if that wasn't enough of a surprise~ Popeye and Momo topped it off by giving Noah his first real gun. Oh man~ best Christmas ever!!! Savannah was also super pumped to open an adorable little sewing machine. She has been asking for one and her, pro-quilter- Momo was sure to deliver! There will be many hours spent crafting together! I forgot to get a pic of Parker in his armor but believe me that was a hit! He wore his mountain biking chest plate the rest of Christmas day! He also got this amazing remote control airplane which he can't wait to fly.

Savannah also got more girly LEGO sets so she spent hours at this table!

The other favorite gift for all our kids were these "Boogie Boards". Each one of them LOVES to draw and these are the new generation of "Doodle Pros". Very cool. Christmas day was full of yummy treats, amazing surprises but the best part was spending the whole day with family and remembering the best GIFT of all. We are blessed.

sweet Christmas morn

This Christmas morning, we actually woke up before the kids. Parker is always our early bird but when the poor guy was fighting strep throat~ he couldn't stick with tradition! Stockings were stuffed with Kona gear. They are all outfitted with snazzy sunglasses, comfly flip-flops and styling' snorkel gear! We also continued our tradition of buying sibling gifts for each other. It was sweet to see them all be excited about what they got from their brother or sister. Parker could spend all day organizing and memorizing his football cards. Noah continues to get lost in the world of vehicles~ since day 1 he's always loved driving Hotwheel cars and flying airplanes/helicopters around the house! And Savannah!?! I love my little Tomboy~ she was so excited to get a pink football for all the times they play pass and tackle in our front yard with Kep!

sledding with Kroon cousins

The Oregon and California Kroon cousins came this Christmas! It's been fun to meet sweet Heidi for the first time and get to know the other 3 all over again! We haven't gotten very much snow this winter but we got a couple fresh inches the night before our Hatcher sledding day. Parker had to miss this adventure because we found out that morning he had strep throat. Momo was busily cooking for Christmas Eve dinner so she was happy to have his company while we tore up the sledding hill.

Christmas break fun with friends

Our dear friends went to Maui for a week to watch their oldest daughter play in a basketball tourney. So we were all pumped to have their other 3 over for 2 nights. We crafted for most the day on Saturday with "String Art" which was a big hit for all the kids, especially Miss Crafty Claire. Then, we went over to Kep's parent's home and attempted to play ice hockey. The lake was incredibly slippery but that didn't stop the kids from making their own fun~ sledding on the ice and tackle football on the hillside! What a great start to our Christmas break and a fun time loving on 3 of the Smiths!